Man who cheated investors out of millions sentenced to prison

Published 5:10 pm, Friday, February 6, 2015

A banker who admitted defrauding more than 1,200 investors out of more than $75 million in a five-year Ponzi scheme has been sentenced to more than 21 years in prison by a federal judge in San Francisco.

William Wise, 64, a Canadian citizen, pleaded guilty to 17 felony charges in September 2012 and has been in custody since turning himself in five months earlier. He was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen.

Prosecutors said Wise and co-defendant Jacqueline Hoegel, who ran their investment office in Napa, sold $129.5 million in securities of deposit from 2004 to 2009 and promised a 16 percent rate of return. They instead used later investors’ funds to pay off earlier investors and to make luxury purchases, including Wise’s private jet and his property on a Caribbean island, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Hoegel but said she remains under indictment on tax fraud charges in Sacramento. Chen has scheduled a restitution hearing in April for Wise, who admitted making $50 million in the scheme and has promised to repay investors as much as he can.

President Trump addresses nation after mass shooting at Florida SchoolWhite House

In court filings, defense lawyers sought a sentence of less than 10 years for Wise, saying he is medically frail, with two knees and a hip that need replacement, had no prior criminal record and should not bear the entire responsibility for a scheme that Hoegel helped to run. Prosecutors stressed the losses Wise imposed on his victims and argued successfully for a sentence of 21 years and 10 months.